Morning journal and courier., 1887-02-12
News by Telegraph FROM ALL QUARTERS. THE PENSION BILL. President Cleveland Refuses
 To Sign It
 AND GIVES HIS REASONS. Interesting Discussion Of
 The Whole Matter. ITS COST TO THE COUNTRY. Fact And Figures That Should Be Considered.
ITS COST TO THE COUNTRY.
VIGOROUS VETO MESSAGE.

1
 Pension Bill Without His Signature l -SenslbIe Reasons Given For So DO- | fns-The Defects In the Law Fully l Considered.
 WASHINGTON, Feb. 1.-The President I late this afternoon put an end to all doubt | and speculation about his attitude on the de- pendent pension bill by sending to the House l a message vetoing the bill. The President in
 his message observes at the outset that this | is the first general bill that has been sane | tioned by Congress since the close of the late
 civil war permitting pensions to soldiers and | sailors who served in that war upon the | ground of service and present disability 1 alone, and in the absence of any inj ur1es re-
 ce.ved by the casualties or incidents of such l services. The President then goes on to re- 1 view the pension legislation: 'Almost con | stant pension legislation since the close of l the war which has resulted in placing upon ! the pension rolls on the first of last July l 365, 763 pensioners of all classes, 305, ,605 of l whom were survivors of the war of the re-
 bellion and their widows and dependents,
 and for whom seventy five millions have been ! appropriated for the current year and for
 whom $9O9, ,624, ,911 have been expended from
 1861 to July 1, 1SS6" While annually pay ing out such vast sum for pensions already granted it is now proposed, the President | says, by the bill to award 8 service pension l to the soldiers of all wars in which the Uni
 ted States has been engaged, including of course the war of tho rebellion and to pay those entitled to the benefits of the act the
 sum of $12 per month. So far as it relates | to the soldiers of the late war the bounty it
 affords them is given thirteen years earlier ! than it has been furnished to the soldiers of any other war and before large majority of l it's benefciaries have advanced in age l beyond the strength and vigor of 1 the prime of life. l. exacts only military | or naval service of three months, without ! any requirement of actual engagement with I the enemy in battle and without subjec- tion to any of the actual dangers of war. l The pensions it awards is allowed to enlist | ed men who have not suffered the least in | jury, disability, loss or damage of any kind incurred in in any degree referable to | their military service, including those who never reached the front at all and those dis charged from rendezvous at the close of the war, if discharged three months after enlist ment. Under the last call of the President | for troops in December, 1864, Il, ,303 men were furnished who were thus discharged. Criticising the section of the bill allowing | this pension, the language of which seems to | the President uncertain and liable to 1 such conflicting constructions, and to be 1 subject to such uni ust and mischievous 1 appropriation as to alone furnish sufficient ground for disapproving it, the President l says: "Persons seeking to obtain the pension l provided by this section must be now or 1 hereafter. 1-sufering from mental or phys
 ical disability. 2-Such disability must not l be the result of their own vicious habits or gross carelessness. 3-Such disability must 1 be such as incapaciates them from the per l formance of labor in such degree to rem 1 der them to earn support. 4-They must l be, dependent upon their daily labor for SUD- port. 5-Upon proof of these conditions l they shall be placed upon the lists of invalid | pensioners of the United States and be en- titled to receive for such total inability to ! procure their subsistence by daily labor l twelve dollars per month" Passing on to ] the consideration of their condition the Pres l ident adds:
 l ''It will be observed that there is no limi- 1 tation or definition of the incapacitating in- l jury or ailment itself It need only be such | a degree from any cause as renders the claim | ant unable to earn support by labor. It | seems to me that the support here men l tioned one which cannot be earned is a l complete and entire support with no dimu | hilton on account the least impairment of l physical or mental condition. If it had been l intended to embrace only those who by dis ' 1 have been very easy to express that idea in | stead of recognizing as is done in a degree of | such inability"
 And then he asks, ''What is support? | Who is to determine whether man earns it, Il or has it, or has it not? Is the gov \ ernment to enter the homes of claimants l for pensions and after examination ! of their surroundings and circumstances set \ tie those questions? Shall the government | say to the man that his manner of subsis ! tence by his earnings is a support ard to an- other that the things his earnings furnish are
 not supports Any attempt, however hon | est, to administer this law in such man ner would necessarily produce more unfair l ness and unjust discrimination and give more scope for partisan Dartiality, and would l result in more perversion of the governments | benevolent intentions than the execution of | any statute ought to permit. If in the ef fort to carry out the proposed law the degree of the disability as related to his earnings be considered for the purpose of showing if in any way it curtails the support which the ap-
 plicant, if he be entirely sound, would earn, ! and to which he is entitled, we enter the
 broad field long occupied by the pension | bureau, and we recognize as the
 only difference between the pro- | posed legislation and previous laws | passed for the benefit of the surviving
 soldiers of the civil war the incurrence in
 one case of disabilities in military service ! and in the other disabilities existing, but 1 not connected with or resulting from such
 service. It must be borne in mind that in
 no case is there any grading of this proposed ! pension. Under the operation of the rule first suggested if there is lack in any de-
 gree great or small, of the ability to earn such | support as the government determines, the
 claimant should have, and by the application
 of the rule secondly suggested if there is a
 reduction in any degree of the support
 which he might earn if sound, he is entitled to pension of SIP In the latter case and
 under the provision of the bill permitting
 persons noy receiving pensions to be admit
 ted to the penents of the act now on the pension roll
 for disabilities incurred in service and which diminish their earning capacity can be denied the pension provided in this bill.'
 Another condition required of claimants
 under this act is that they shall be 'tdepend-
 ent upon their daily labor for support" Un-
 der the provisions of this section any soldier,
 the President thinks, whose faeul-
 ties of mind or body have be- 1 come impaired by accident, disease
 age, irrespective of his service in the army,
 and who by his labor only is left incapable 1 of gaing the fair support he might with un- impaired powers have provided for himself ] and who is not so well endowed with this
 worlds goods as t9 live without work may
 claim to participate in it is not required that i he should be without property, but
 only that labor snouIo pc neces-
 sary to his support in some degree;
 nor is it requires. inst he should be now re-
 ceiving support from others. Recent obser-
 vation and experience constrain the Presi-
 dent to refer to another result sure to follow the passage of this bill. There can be no
 doubt, he says, that the race after pensions
 offered by the bill would not only stimulate
 weakness and pretended incapaeity for labor
 but put further premium on dis
 honesty and nendaoity. More than
 this, while cost should not be set aagainst patriotic duty, or the recog-
 milton of right, still, wISeenn measure pro
 posed is based upon generosity, it is got a1niss to mediate somewhat upon the ex- pense it involves. Experience, tha President
 says. has demonstrated that ali estimates
 concerning the probable future cost of pen sion list are uncertain and unreliable and always fall below actual realization, and in . support of his assertion says;
 The chairman of the House committee on